Hospital loses biopsy

This is a letter to the public, so they will know what can happen if they don’t keep asking questions.

A doctor in Terrace arranged for me to go to the Prince George Hospital for a prostate biopsy.

I had the procedure done and was told I would have the results in 10 days.

After 10 days I started asking my doctor every week what was happening with my biopsy results and kept being told to just wait a few more days.

After five weeks went by I got angry and said I needed an answer only to be told that the Prince George Hospital had lost my biopsy.

Somehow the ten little pieces of me had been misplaced.

Maybe someone else got my results and will be having an operation they don’t need.

I know this sounds ridiculous, but I feel that losing my biopsy falls into that same category.

We’re always told the best cure for any type of cancer is early detection, but this can’t happen if incompetent people are involved.

I know nothing will happen to the person or persons responsible for losing my biopsy, but in the real world they would be looking for new employment.

After two months I am now waiting to be scheduled for another biopsy in Prince George.

Taking time off work and travelling to Prince George is costly and I know it was costly for our publicly funded medical system as the person that took the biopsy flew in from Vancouver.

No wonder our medical system is always short of money.

My advice to the public is that if you are sent to the Prince George Hospital for tests and you don’t get your results in a timely manner, start making phone calls and knocking on doors as there are obviously some major problems with that hospital.

More than ever it has made me realize how lucky we are to have such a great staff at the Hazelton hospital.